Letter to the Honorable Peter T. King, Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security

Letter

With today's decision from the US Supreme Court followed by the predictably lawless action by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano, we have entered upon a new phase of the nation's continuing quest to establish a clear and sustainable immigration policy which upholds the rule of law, the rights of persons, the security of the American people and the responsibilities of the Federal Government.

We now confront the spectacle of the President of the United States behaving as an emperor, and the cabinet officer entrusted with the security of the nation as his court jester.

But this, unfortunately, is no joke. The world is watching as our long-admired and historically vindicated system of constitutional government is put asunder for the sake of political calculation, as though the United States of America is some tin-horn regime where the people are propagandized for the sake of a strong man clinging to power.

I write respectfully to request that you bring Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano before your committee as soon as possible to answer Congressional oversight for the policy that she has today enunciated. This is a matter of the utmost importance, not only to my state of Arizona but to your own state of New York and all others, whose sovereignty and rule of law are equally placed at risk by this sort of imperious federal behavior. These things of course transcend even the important policy matters which are the subject of the instant illegal immigration controversy and willful administration malfeasance in regard thereto.

The secretary's proper response to this morning's Supreme Court decision, needless to say, would have been to immediately arrange open and collegial discussions with Arizona law enforcement authorities to determine the best course forward for the orderly and constitutional enforcement of the law. This is the response which would have reflected a sincere desire to serve the public, honor our processes and faithfully discharge the oath she and the President have sworn. Instead, she chose to send forth an arrogant decree which simultaneously insults all Americans and ushers the secretary into history as a petty tyrant.

It can be said on behalf of many of the foreign nationals who enter our country that they are seeking harbor from desperate conditions and a better way of life for their families. But the lawlessness that our own political leadership now perpetrates in their name has no such sympathetic motive. It is unalloyed calculation and political manipulation, and it undermines the foundations of the nation to which so many have so hopefully and legally immigrated for hundreds of years.

Please reply at your earliest convenience to this request. I will in the meanwhile, reach out to state and local authorities in Arizona to determine how I can otherwise assist them in whatever course they may choose in light of the secretary's announced intentions.